Superman
by VanTango
Summary: James Potter isn't a hero like his father, Harry. He's not smart, not charming, and not that great at talking to girls. But will this ordinary wizard ever be worthy to call himself 'his father's son' [HP7 SPOILERS]
1. My Faceplant

Well, after finishing the seventh book, I just had to write about Harry's son, James's life at Hogwarts. It's my first fanfiction, so please review and leave helpful tips! thanks and I hope you enjoy!

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James Potter was standing in a vast field of yellow daisies. The sky was blue and cloudless. A cool breeze blew from the west, causing the flowers to sway back and forth like waves of an ocean.

He turned around in a full circle. There was no one else in sight.

"Where am I?" He thought out loud.

"James." A soft voice said from behind him.

The black hair on the back of his neck stood up and he whirled around.

Audrey Robinson was facing him, smiling sweetly. She had her hands clasped together in front of her and her light brown hair fluttered in the gentle wind. She brought her face closer to his.

James felt his cheeks flush.

Her lips came closer to his. They were so close…closer…closer…

"James, wake up!"

A pillow hit him hard in the nose, snapping him out of his dream. James angrily sat up in his four-poster bed in the Gryffindor dormitory. "What was that for, Henry?"

Henry Solomon was standing at the side of his bed, holding the pillow that he had used to wake James. He was fully dressed in his Hogwarts robes. "You're the only one still sleeping."

James rubbed his left eye. He was a bit angry with Henry for interrupting him right before he kissed Audrey.

He didn't take much time to get ready for classes, probably because James never bothered with his hair. His father, Harry Potter, never minded when James wandered around their home in Godric's Hollow with un-combed hair. He smiled to himself as he thought of his family. Little Lily Potter was waiting at home while her brothers were having fun in school.

James doted on Lily like a father. He always bought, or stole, anything she wanted. He was also famous for beating up Joey Blum, a muggle who once teased Lily at the playground down the street from their house.

"Hey, you ready?" Henry knocked on the door.

"Y-yeah."

They joined a small group of Gryffindor's who were walking toward the great hall for breakfast. As they entered through the immense doors of the hall, they could see that most of the students were already there.

Henry elbowed James gently. "Looks like Al is having fun."

Albus Severus Potter, the small first year, was sitting at the Slytherin table, chatting excitedly with other first-years.

James laughed. He remembered his surprise from last night when Albus was sorted into Slytherin. His had jaw dropped, but he wasn't disappointed. If Severus Snape was as great of a man as his father had told him, he was fine with his little brother being a Slytherin.

They took their place at the Gryffindor table. James sat next to Blake Wilkins, the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team.

"Potter!" Blake's loud voice boomed. "Practice today after class. You better be there!"

James laughed and jokingly saluted him. "Yes, sir!" He turned back to Henry. "Why don't you try out for the team? With a bit of work, you could be a pretty decent chaser."

"Nah." Henry reached for a tangerine sitting in a giant gold bowl. "I just like play for fun, you know. Besides, your dad taught you how to play quidditch before you could walk. My dad's a muggle, remember?"

James shrugged. "I still think you should try out."

Henry grinned. "Thanks but no thanks."

Breakfast was over soon and the students were dismissed to their first classes. Most of the Gryffindor third years, including James and Henry, had Transfiguration as their first subject of the day.

They followed other third years up to the second floor and into the long classroom used for transfiguration.

"I hate this class." James groaned as he sat down next to Henry near the back of the room. Suddenly, James slammed his hand down on the desk, causing Henry to jump.

"W-what the hell?" Henry stammered.

"This class just got a lot better." James grabbed Henry's tie and used it to force his head to the left. James raised his hand and pointed to the center aisle of the classroom. "Audrey."

Audrey Robinson, the pretty Hufflepuff girl from James's dream, was walking towards the front of the room.

"H-hi Audrey." James waved weakly as she passed by.

"Hi, James." She smiled. "How are you?"

"G-g-good." He replied.

"Great. Well, I'll talk to you later." She gave him a little wave and moved on.

James slumped back in his seat with a broad smile on his face. "She so likes me."

Henry stared at him. "You're a complete idiot."

"What?" James placed his feet on the desk.

"Because a girl says 'hi' to you, that means she like you?"

"No." Jeames held up his index finger. "She asked me 'how I was.'"

Before Henry could say anything else, the main door flew open. A young, tall wizard wearing dark blue robes, briskly walked towards the front of the room. He turned around sharply and slowly smiled at the class. "Welcome back." He said in a low voice. His dark brown eyes shot to the back of the room: right to James.

James smiled sarcastically. "Good 'ol Professor Damek."

Damek held his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in front of the class. "Because you're all third-years, I don't have any excuse to go easy on you." His eyes were maliciously fixed upon James and Henry. "I don't want any trouble this year. We're going to make this a very, very good year." He stopped pacing. "Is that clear?"

"Yes." The class murmured in reply.

James wasn't listening to a word Damek had said, even though most of them were directed towards him. He had taken out a retractable pen and was trying to carve 'JP+AR' into the desk.

Suddenly, Damek raised his wand and very light blue sparks shot out of it and hit James's pen.

James screamed as his pen instantly turned into a centipede. He pushed away from his desk so abruptly that his chair toppled over, taking him with it. They crashed to the floor loudly.

The class erupted into laughter and Damek looked pleased.

With his face red with humiliation, James slowly got up off the floor, rubbing his aching shoulder. Audrey was looking over her shoulder at him with an expression of concern and pity. He placed his chair upright and gruffly sat down.

Damek ordered the class to quiet down. "Isn't transfiguration wonderful, Mr. Potter?"

James flicked the centipede onto the floor and sank lower into his seat.

With a snort of accomplishment, Damek returned to his 'new-year' lecture.

James leaned over and whispered into Henry's ear. "Now do you see why I hate this class?"

----

Thanks for reading so far! Please review and give me advice!


	2. Vesperelli

hey everyone! another chapter! please review...i really need your advice!

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James was grumpy for the rest of the morning. When lunchtime came around, James contented himself by eating as much as he could.

"You know," Henry said as he watched his friend scarf down everything in eyesight. "It's usually women who eat away their feelings."

"Sh-'up." James replied with his mouth full of baked potato. "I'm staa'vin."

Henry shrugged and pulled his schedule out of his bag. "We have Potions class next in the dungeons with Professor Vesperelli."

James frowned. "Vesperelli?" He grabbed the schedule and stared at the spot for potions. "What happened to Slughorn?" As he spoke he sprayed bits of potato all over the paper.

"Dunno…maybe he retired. He was getting old." He cringed and held the schedule by the corner.

"That sucks…" James frowned. "He really liked me. I could get away with anything in his class. Oh, sorry about that." James wiped off the remains of this lunch from the schedule.

Henry sighed and stood up.

"Where you goin'?" James asked.

"For a walk." Henry started walking towards the main doors.

"Wait up, man!" James grabbed three tuna-salad sandwiches and chased after him.

They went out to the banks of the Great Lake and sat down in the grass. Henry watched the water shimmer with the sun's light while James ate his lunch.

"You know," James said as he liked tuna from his fingertips. "I wonder if girls think about guys, as much as guys think about girls…"

Henry laughed. "No way…guys like girls too much."

James also laughed. "You said it, man." He yawned and stretched his limbs.

"You're so obsessed with Audrey, just asker her out already." Henry said. "She's so nice, she probably will say yes anyways."

"Ah…sorry, Henry." James replied. "You're probably really annoyed with all my Audrey-obsessing."

"Hey, it's no big deal." Henry paused for a moment. "Do you think we have enough time to grab our brooms?

---

James kicked off the ground for the first time that school. His hair flew up as he rose high into the air. "Henry!" He yelled. "You comin?"

"Yeah!" Henry kicked off as well, and rose up to James's level.

"You sure we won't get yelled at for this?" James asked.

"Since when did you care about getting in trouble?" Henry snorted.

James shrugged. "Good point."

They both flew towards the great lake at great speeds. Henry flew so low, that he could reach out and touch the surface of the water.

These school brooms suck... James thought. They didn't have enough time to retrieve their own brooms from the dormitory, so they had to borrow some from the school broom shed.

The quidditch pitch was right ahead. It looked so inviting with its banners of red, blue, yellow and green.

They dove towards the pitch and flew in circles in the outer rim, waving victoriously to invisible fans.

"I can't wait for the first match!" James screamed.

Henry was practicing a barrel roll up and down the field and James watched appreciatively.

"When did you learn that?"

"During the summer!" Henry shouted back. "Remember when I was at my cousin Zack's house for a month?"

"Yeah!"

"He taught me!"

James grinned. Henry's cousin, Zack, was a member of the Gryffindor quidditch team last year. Zack was in his seventh year at the time, so James only got to play alongside him for a year. But Zack was an amazing player, one of the greatest chasers James had ever seen. He wasn't too smart when it came to his classes, but he was a genius at quidditch.

"How's Zack doing?"

"He wants to try out for the Appleby Arrows."

"Awesome! He should totally go for it!" James flew around in a tight circle once.

"You kidding me! The Arrows are making a comeback this year. They're winning more and more! You gotta be really good to play for them."

"I think he can make it! He's got skills."

After flying around for 15 more minutes, they headed back towards the school. Completely windswept and exhilerated, they placed the brooms safely in the shed. As soon as they turned around, Professor Damek was staring back angrily at them. "You two come with me."

---

"Flying brooms on the school ground without permission, especially for underage wizards, is not permitted!"

James and Henry were standing in front of Damek's desk in the transfiguration classroom. He was shaking his head and pacing like he always did.

"Professor Damek." Henry started.

"I don't want to hear it, Solomon." Damek snapped. "You may be a good student, but when you are with James, you're up to no good."

"All we did was fly!" James said. "We didn't hurt anyone!"

Damek glared at both of them. "You both have an evening detention with me after dinner. Report here and I will put you to work."

James and Henry walked out of his room coolly. It wasn't their first time having a detention. But now, it was time for classes to begin, so they made their way towards the dungeons.

Professor Vesperelli was already sitting behind her desk. Her long, beaky nose was buried in a book and she was wildly writing on a piece of parchment with her free hand.

James and Henry sat down behind two Slytherin girls and waited for the rest of the class to file in. When the last person was seated, the doors swung closed by themselves, emitting a clang so loud that everyone, except for Vesperelli, jumped.

She stood up slowly, her maroon robes trailed behind her like a fountain. "Good afternoon, class." She spoke with a thick Italian accent. "I am Professor Vesperelli. You may be wondering what happened to Professor Slughorn…"

"Did you eat him?" James said softly. The students right around him giggled.

She looked directly at him. "Is something funny, young man?"

"No, not at all." James avoided eye contact.

She paused for a moment and looked at him. James could feel her brown eyes piercing him like a muggle x-ray.

"What is your name?"

"James Potter."

Her lips curled into a smile. "Any relation to the famous Harry Potter?"

"He's my dad."

She laughed slowly. "Very good…well I hope you are as promising a wizard as he was." Vesperelli turned away and returned to her introduction. "Professor Slughorn retired last year. He is slowly growing weaker, so it only makes sense. Many of you will miss him but…"

She pulled out her wand and gave it a flick. Thick textbooks soared out of cabinets in the back of the room and landed in front of each of the student. All the books were incredibly old and written on the front in peeling gold letters was 'Standard Potions Theory: Level 3.'

"…My class will be just as fun."


	3. Damek's Secret

thanks so much for the support everyone! i really appreciate it! please continue to help me through this!

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"Worst first day ever!" James exclaimed as he walked as quickly as he could into a courtyard with Henry.

"Yeah." Henry said. "I'm glad classes are over. They'll get more interesting later into the year."

"You wanna come to quidditch practice with me today?" James offered.

"No it's okay." Henry said. "I'll just hang out with Will today. Plus, we have detention today with Damek."

James grinned. "You want to skip it?"

"Not Damek's detentions." Henry folded his arms. "I'm fine with skipping other teacher's detentions, just not Damek's."

"Okay." James held out his hand. "See you at dinner."

They exchanged a high-five and parted ways.

James ran up to Gryffindor common room and changed as quickly as he could into his practice quidditch robes. His new racing broom, an Orion, was probably one of the fastest brooms in circulation and a gift from his father a year ago when he had started his second year. He grabbed his Orion and hurried towards the foyer in front of the great hall, where the team was going to meet.

Blake, holding a heavy trunk, was already there. He greeted James with a hard punch to his shoulder.

"Hey, Potter!" He was smiling from ear to ear.

"Hey, Blake." James replied warily as he rubbed his shoulder.

Other members of team were arriving one by one. Blake's fellow beater, Edward Benton arrived next, followed by the keeper and lastly the three chasers, who were out of breath from running as fast as they could.

They followed Blake outside towards the open area next to the lake. A practice quidditch pitch had been set up there a couple years ago. It was about half the size of the actual pitch, but it had three goals on either side, along with a few benches for the players.

Blake dropped the trunk to the ground and it made a loud 'thunk.' The beaters inside rattle noisily, as if annoyed by their drop to the ground. He knelt down and opened it. Blake pulled out a small, golden ball and handed it to James. "You know what to do."

James smiled and threw the snitch high into the air. He closed his eyes and counted to ten. Then he mounted his broom and pushed off into the sky.

He was already zooming around, looking for the snitch, as Blake was releasing the bludgers and setting the quaffle into motion.

At quidditch practice, each unit of the team practiced by themselves. The chasers practice attacking formations and took shots against the keeper. The beaters flew around, knocking bludgers away from the chasers and the seeker. All that the seeker had to do was release the snitch, catch it, and then release it again. James saw a glint of gold hovering by chaser Teresa Grant's left foot. He charged towards the little snitch, which darted away as soon as he came within ten feet.

James followed it up higher into the sky, where it weaved between both beaters before diving towards the ground. James followed it almost perfectly, though he had some trouble getting past Blake's large, muscular body.

James was close to the ground, pursuing the snitch one-on-one. He pushed his Orion to its limit and he extended his arm. The snitch was just out of reach. He shut his eyes for a moment. Sowly, a mental image of his father in the same place that he was developed in his head. Harry was smiling and reaching for the snitch. Suddenly, Harry dove off his broom, and closed his hands around the little ball before falling to the grass below him.

James opened his eyes. He knew what he had to do. He took a chance and dove from his broom, just like his father had in his mind. He fell to the ground and rolled over. James shook his head vigorously as if to shake off his body's shock. He slowly opened his hand; sitting in his palm was the snitch.

---

"How did it go?" Henry asked when James took a seat next to him at dinner.

"Awesome." James replied as he tore off a drumstick from the massive turkey in the center. "I got this…like…crazy dream of my dad playing quidditch. I just did what he did and bam! I caught the snitch.

"Hmm, interesting." Henry obviously didn't care.

Dinner was over all too soon. As all the other students headed back to their house common rooms, James and Henry went the opposite way to Professor Damek's classroom.

"Professor Damek?" Henry called as he entered the classroom. His voice echoed through the vast, empty room.

"I'm in my office." A voice called back. They followed the source of the voice and found that Damek's office was a smaller room connected to his classroom. He was sitting at a large desk with several papers in front of him.

"Boys." He said as they stood before him. "Your job is to clean my class room and my office. And feed those." He pointed to a large cage behind him in which many mice were scurrying around. "I'm going to be meeting with some other teachers. If I hear that you did anything that may tick me off…you're both in detention for another week. Got it?"

They nodded.

"Good." Damek stood up and walked out. They heard the door of the classroom slam behind him.

Henry found a jar of sunflower seeds and dumped a handful into the cage. The mice jumped on each other, fighting for their dinner. He grimaced as he watched the brawl. "Must suck to be a rodent…"

James was pouring over Damek's desk. "I wonder what it was he was looking at." James picked up the piece of paper on the center of the desk and read it out loud.

_Professor Damek,_

_Thank you for all your work. It's been a great help to me. _

_Please continue your surveillance and report to me…_

Before James could read anymore, he felt something snatch it from his grasp. He looked up; it was Damek.

"I forgot something." He sneered and placed the letter inside his robes before storming away.

Ass soon as they were alone, James rounded on Henry. "That letter!" He exclaimed. "Damek's spying one someone! A student, a teacher…anyone!"

"Yeah." Henry nodded. "He's been spying on this person for a while too."

"Something really messed up is going on here…"


	4. Close a Door, Open a Window

once again...thanks for the support everyone! just PLEASE review and leave feedback for me

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James couldn't stop thinking of Damek's letter for the next few days. He observed Damek as closely as he could in transfiguration to pick up any clues as to whom Damek is spying on. But he couldn't figure out anything. Damek maintained his cool, calm persona perfectly as if nothing had happened.

"I think we should try to get ourselves in trouble with Damek." James said to Henry one evening in the common room.

"What?" Henry looked up from his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay about ways to disarm an opponent. "That's stupid. Whatever Damek's doing probably isn't hurting anyone. Maybe he's just keeping a watch on some over-protective parent's kid or something. "You're freaking out too much, man."

For some reason, James felt really angry at Henry's dissent. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means." Henry replied. "That you're paranoid. Howgarts isn't the same as when you're dad was here. There's no dark wizard running around somewhere in England...weird things just don't happen anymore."

James stood up angrily. "I can't believe you, Henry!" He glared at his best friend. "I don't think you get how important this is! He's spying on someone...isn't that illegal or something? You're one of the few people in this place that I actually like and respect and you won't believe me?"

"James, you're blowing this out of proportion…"

"Ah!" James threw his hands up. "There you go again! 'Think logically James!'" He mocked Henry's voice in a squeaky, high-pitched tone. "'You're blowing this out of proportion, James!' Forget you!" James stormed up the stairs to the boy's dormitory, pushing frightened little first-years out of his way.

Henry watched him go and sadly shook his head.

---

The next morning, James didn't sit next to Henry at breakfast. When he entered the great hall, he shot a nasty glare at Henry, mouthed the word 'traitor,' and went to sit down with Blake and the rest of the quidditch team.

"What's up with you and Potter?" Will O'Connelly asked. "Got into a little tiff?"

Henry sighed, poking his scrambled eggs with his fork. "Yeah. But he's the one mad at me."

James avoided Henry for the entire day. He couldn't forgive Henry for doubting him when he knew he was right. I'll show him…he decided. I'll find proof that Damek's out to hurt someone.

James did what ever he could to get detention with Damek. He stood up in class once and shot red sparks out of his wand. Damek sighed and transfigured the legs of his chair into gelatin so they gave way when he sat down again. The next day James smuggled two pymgy puffs he bought from his uncle George's joke shop and let them loose in class. He didn't get the reception he wanted, when the other students picked them up and petted them. Damek simply ignored them and continued his lesson.

"He's definitely onto me." He said to beater Edward Benton.

"Mmmmhmmm." Edward showed no interest whatsoever.

That night as James was lying in bed, he was thinking of what he could do to get into Damek's office. If he couldn't get in there via detention, he had one option left: sneaking in. But he couldn't think of anyway to get in. Damek is impenetrable. He was just about always in his office and whenever he did go out, his room was always locked with a complex spell that James didn't know how to counter. He frowned. Henry probably knew a way to unlock it…no! He can't ask Henry for help!

James decided to spend a few days trying to find a way to crack the lock to get into Damek's classroom. He spent his free time in the library, looking at book-after-book, trying to find any hints as to a way to get to that desk in which all of Damek's secrets were hidden. He had a whole stack of books on the table in front of him, and he was going through a book about revealing charms.

"James?" A voice said behind him.

He instinctively threw his arms over the book, covering it from sight and turned around. Audrey was standing behind him.

"A-Audrey!" He blushed. "Hey."

"I've never seen you in the library before." She laughed. "Have you taken an interest in reading?"

"Uh, well…sort of." James replied.

"Hmm." Audrey craned her neck, trying to see the book in front of James, who just slouched over it further. "Well, I'll see you later then."

Before he could stop himself, James called, "wait, Audrey!"

She stopped and turned around.

He had already started so he might as well finish. "Could you help me with something?"

She nodded and sat down across the table from him.

James took a deep breath and explained everything to her; the letter, Damek's reaction and Henry's disagreement. When he had finished, Audrey was quiet, soaking in all the information.

Slowly she spoke. "Are you sure this is something you should interfere in?"

James tried hard to avoid her beautiful brown eyes. "Yeah. I'm sure."

She cringed, as if she didn't want to say what came next. "James, it's not that I doubt you…I believe that Damek is hiding something! But Henry is a good judge, and if he says no, then maybe…"

James was crestfallen. "So you're saying he's right because he's smarter than me, right?"

"No, no, no!" Audrey shook her head. "I-I…" She breathed in and suddenly she had a new attitude. "I'll help you break into Damek's office."

---

remember, this is my first fic so any reviews are helpful!


	5. Detention with Leary

sorry about the delay in updating! I've been a bit busy with pre-school preparations! anyways, enjoy chapter 5!

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James and Henry continued their silent fight the next day. After lunch had came and gone, the Gryffindor third-year students had Defense Against the Dark Arts. James hated this class almost as much as Transfiguration. The teacher, Professor Leary picked on him constantly, while at the same time praising Henry.

"As you know, class," Leary addressed his students as they walked in. His room was re-arranged. All the desks were pushed and stacked against the walls and in the center of the class was a long platform about four feet wide.

"We have been studying spells used to disarm opponents in the case of conflict. I have decided that it is time to see what you have learned. Each of you, with a partner, will come up onto this strip platform, and will magically attempt to disarm each other." He looked at the class very seriously. "Magic can be very dangerous. Choose your spells wisely. That's all the warning you will receive."

James was so excited he could hardly bear it. He knew exactly whom he wanted to duel.

"So," Leary stepped back. "Any volunteers?"

James's hand shot up. "Please, professor."

Leary smiled. "Of course Mr.Potter. Now who would you like as your opponent."

"Henry Solomon." James said firmly.

"Mr. Solomon, do you accept?"

Henry looked dumbfounded at first, but then he realized what James was trying to do. "Of course, Professor Leary."

James and Henry stepped up onto the strip and stood facing each other on both ends.

"On my signal." Leary paused for a moment, giving both of the boys time to prepare themselves. "Begin!"

"Expelliarmus!" James shouted.

"Protego!" Henry screamed.

Red sparks few from the tip of James's wand and bounced off the invisible shield that Henry created.

"Very good!" Leary was applauding Henry. "See how Mr. Solomon was prepared for Mr. Potter's attack! Very good! 10 points to Gryffindor."

This made James even more furious. "Fight back, you coward!" He bellowed. "

Henry glared. "Levicorpus!"

Suddenly, James was hoisted up by his ankle. He dangled in the air upside-down. The class burst into laughter. Henry smugly looked up at James. "Fight back you coward." He mocked James's voice in an annoying pitch.

"Mr. Solomon!" Leary screeched. "This is not a approved spell!"

James grinded his teeth angrily. "Relashio!"

Henry ducked just in time. The fiery hot sparks singed a banner hanging on the wall behind him.

James shot a silent hex at Henry again, this time hitting him. Immediately, Henry's legs felt like they were made of jelly and he fell heavily to the strip. He pointed his wand upward. "Langlock!"

The spell hit James and his tongue stuck firmly to the roof of his mouth. He couldn't speak.

Henry raised his wand one more time to finish him off. "Rela-"

"Enough!" Leary now stepped up onto the strip in between the boys. With a casual flick of his wand at both of them, the affects of the jinxes and hexes stopped immediately. He cast a silent spell to cushion James's fall.

"You both will be in my office tonight after dinner to receive your punishment." Leary's voice wasn't fierce, but it was so cold and heartless. He quickly changed his tone. "Now…who wants to go next?

--

After dinner, James and Henry silently reported to Leary's room after dinner. Leary was waiting for them outside. He was holding three bottles in his arms. "Follow me."

They followed Leary down the corridor. He stopped outside a large storage closet.

"This closet has a rather nasty doxy infestation." He handed both of the boys a spray-bottle. "These are fill of doxycide. Spray all the doxys with it, then dispose of them." He held the other bottle up. "This is an antidote for doxy venom. If you find that you need more, come to my room. You boys understand?"

They nodded.

"You'll have to work together on this." Leary said. "Don't let your over-inflated heads ruin what you have."

Before James or Henry could say anything, Leary threw open the doors and pushed them in.

The doors clanked behind them. The closet was about the size of a normal bedroom and it was packed with boxes and crates of all sizes. Immediately, a small swarm of blue doxies attacked Henry, biting him anywhere they could find bare skin.

Henry screamed and threw his arms up. He tried to swat them away while blocking his face from their sharp little teeth.

James's hand twitched on the spray bottle. Defending Henry would be giving in to their fight, but he couldn't stand to see his friend get attacked.

Henry yelled. His face was covered in red marks from doxy bites. He was trying to grope for his wand inside his robes.

James's sprayed doxycide all over Henry, drencing the little fairies. They fell to the floor motionless.

Henry turned his red face to James, his jaw hanging open. "You…"

James couldn't help but laugh. "We're even!"

--

Leary was sitting at his desk grading the last few essays he had when he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in." He called.

James and Henry emerged through the door holding empty spray bottles. Leary was shocked to see that they were swollen and covered in punctures from the doxies teeth, but they were smiling from ear to ear.

"We're done, but I think we're going to need more antidote…"


	6. Mandrake Roots

its been a while since I've updated! pre-school stuff has kept me so busy! anywyas, enjoy chapter 6!

---

James and Henry enjoyed the next day very much. Not only did they have fun thinking of noble, heroic stories as to how their faces were red and swollen, but the way that the world seemed better when they weren't fighting was much more glorious.

"So you know, I couldn't just let that poor muggle get hurt!" Henry said to a pretty Ravenclaw girl in Transfiguration class. "So I just ran into the fire, I was completely out of my mind! I had no idea what had come over me."

"Funny." The girl's companion scoffed. "And where exactly are muggles in this area?"

Henry silently opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find the right words to say. Instead he just turned and faced forward in his chair.

James laughed and elbowed Henry in the ribs lightly. "Nice one…but don't tell it to any smart ones or they'll know!"

Henry laughed as well. "So have told Audrey any story yet?"

"I'm thinking of one, a really good one! One that's so awesome, and yet completely foolproof."

Henry turned around. Audrey was quickly walking up the aisle towards her desk. "Think fast, man! Here she comes."

"Oh, crap." James swore under his breath. He hid his face in his arms, hoping that Audrey wouldn't notice him.

Unfortunately, she did.

"James?" She stopped. "What happened to you?"

He looked up into her worried eyes. "Ah…ah…"

Luckily, Damek emerged from his office. Audrey quickly ran to her desk.

James slouched in his chair. "Whew. Close call."

As Damek started explaining the day's assignment, Henry whispered to James. "So you still after Damek?"

"Yeah." James replied. "Audrey is helping me now."

"Really?"

"Yeah. What? You wanna help out now?"

"No…I still think you're crazy."

"Is something wrong? Potter? Solomon?" Damek was looking right at them, as well as the entire class.

"No sir." Henry shook his head.

"10 points from Gryffindor." Damek smirked before going back to explain how to transfigure a rat into a teacup.

Henry and James continued in lower voices. "We're trying to find a way to break-in to Damek's office. We need to see that letter."

"Break-in?" Henry looked at James like he had gone crazy. "No one can break into Damek's room. He's…well…Damek! I swear, man, that guy is from hell."

"Yeah, but right now, we got nothing." James sighed. "Too bad an answer won't just fall from the sky…"

--

During lunch, a group of delivery owls swooped in through the large windows of the great hall. They dropped packages and envelopes over the students, who caught them from below.

One barn owl, carrying a large package, landed right in James's plate.

"Ah! Stupid owl!" He took another look at the owl. "Oh! It's my dad's owl!" He untied the package from its foot and opened it. Inside was another box and on top of it was a small letter. James picked up the letter.

_Open this later when you are away from everyone else. Do not let anyone but your closest friends see. Use it well._

_-Dad_

_P.S- How's Professor Longbottom doing?_

"From your dad, huh?" Henry smiled. "You want to go open it right now?"

They looked at each other, smiled, and started running. They burst through the doors and up the changing stairs. They arrived in the empty common room and flung themselves down on the floor, completely out of breath.

James pulled out the second box and ripped it open. A mass of shimmering cloth spilled out onto his lap. He stood up and unfurled it like a flag.

"What's that? Some kind of cape?" Henry stared at it.

"Looks like it."

Henry looked at Harry's note. "He says to 'use it well'…he wants you to wear it often?"

James put the cloak over his shoulders. "How do I look?"

Hanry's swollen face was gaping and he was pointing dumbly at Harry's body.

"That bad, huh?" James laughed.

"In…in…invisible!"

"What?" James looked down at himself. He couldn't see anything from his shoulder's down. "I'm invisible!" He beamed. "Awesome! It's like some, invisibility cloak!"

"That's so cool!" Henry added. "Think of what we could do with that!"

James slowly turned to Henry. "Like sneaking into Damek's office."

"Even with this, it's still a crazy." Henry shook his head.

But James wasn't listening. "I have to find Audrey!"

James searched the entire school, but he couldn't find her.

"She's probably in the Hufflepuff common room." Henry said. "Give it up, you'll see her later anyways."

James took his advice and stuffed the cloak into his bag.

It was after class that James finally met Audrey. They were coming into the great hall at the same time for dinner.

"Audrey!" He whispered and gestured for her to come to him. They went away from the flow of students and stood in a quiet spot.

"James! Is something wrong?"

"No." He reached into his bag and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak. "Look at this." He draped the cloak over himself.

Audrey gasped as he disappeared from her sight.

"Awesome, huh?" James pulled the cloak off. "It's exactly what we need!"

She looked uneasy.

"What's wrong, Audrey?"

"Nothing." She replied. "I guess I'm just a bit worried about this whole thing."

James was heartbroken. He wanted to get emotionally close to her, and this plan was the perfect way to…but now she wanted out.

"It's okay if you don't want to do it." James forced a weak smile. "I can go on my own."

"Henry's not helping you?" She looked up at him. "I thought that…well, since you got over your fight…"

"No, he still doesn't believe me." James sighed. "But, hey…" He stopped.

Audrey's eyes were watery.

"I-I'm sorry!" James was completely confused. "I didn't mean to make you cry!"

Audrey's face turned bright pink. She wiped her face in embarrassment with the sleeve of her robes and walked away, leaving James standing by himself.

--

"I lost her."

James was lying in his bed above the covers. His hands were behind his head and he was staring at the high ceiling of the dormitories.

Henry frowned but didn't say anything.

"I guess I'll never find out who Damek's spying on."

Henry took a shaky breath. "I'll go."

"What?"

"I said I'd go with you!"

James sat up. "Really?"

"Yeah." Henry loosened his tie. "I still don't believe it, but I'll go."

James smiled and fell back onto the bed, feeling much happier. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them again. "Hey, Henry."

"Yeah?"

"Remember when we beat the hell out of each other in Leary's class."

"Oh yeah. What about it?"

"Remember that spell you used? Levicorpus?"

Henry nodded slowly.

"Where did you learn it?"

"Why do you care?" Henry looked at him suspiciously.

"No, it's not like that." James sat up again. "I just remember my dad said something about it a long time ago."

Henry didn't reply.

"Where did you learn it?" James demanded.

"Well, since it matters so much to you." Henry sighed. "It was that time last week in Vesperelli's class, when I had to borrow some mandrake roots. I went to one of the cabinets in the back of the dungeon and I got the roots. But before I closed it, I noticed this dusty, little bottle tucked into the corner or the cabinet. It had a letter attached to it that said, 'please listen to me.' I took the vial and went back to my seat."

James's eyes widened. "It was a memory?"

"Yeah."

"So I'm guessing that whoever's memory that was, used that spell?"

"You could say that."

"Do you still have it?"

Henry shuffled over to his school bag and pulled out a small vial. "I carry it with me all the time."

"I swear man, you act like a woman sometimes. All sentimental and stuff." James took the vial from him and held it up to the dim light. He turned it, watching the pearly liquid inside glow. "Who did it belong to, Henry?"

"A man named Severus Snape."


End file.
